<Begin Segment 4>

TI: So when you think about your growing up, what's really the first place you can remember in terms of your memories?

SY: I think Gilroy was the place, because that's the last place that we moved to, and we went to school there, I was, I think, seventh grade... no, eighth grade. I was in eighth grade then.

TI: Okay, so let's start there. So describe the house you lived in at Gilroy. What was that like?

SY: It was a small house. It had an outbuilding, and it had a parlor. Long ago you say "parlor," right now you say "living room," I guess. And we had two bedrooms and we had a kitchen and dining room, and a laundry room.

TI: And so at this point, you're, like, seventh, eighth grade. How many kids were still living with the family? Did some of your older siblings, were they all living with the family?

SY: Yes, we were living, all of us were living in Gilroy.

TI: So that's a family of ten.

SY: Oh, wait a minute. I forgot to tell you that the three oldest brothers were sent to Japan. Now, the year... [laughs] that was when we were living in Castroville. No, no, I'm sorry, that's when they came back from Japan. They were very young, I think, going to grammar school, I think, when they were sent to Japan, the three brothers.

TI: Now, do you remember when that happened or were you too young? You must have been... because you would have been really young.

SY: Gee, I would have been... yes.

TI: So all of a sudden your three brothers are gone, they were in Japan.

SY: I don't remember them leaving either, so I guess I was really young then.

TI: And they came back when you were at Castroville?

SY: Yes, uh-huh.

TI: And so Castroville was after, after Gilroy, then?

SY: No, no.

TI: Before Gilroy.

SY: Gilroy is the last place that we lived in before, I mean, when war started.

TI: Okay, good. So going back to the Gilroy house, this two-bedroom house, you said it was small.

SY: Yes.

TI: There were lots of people in this house.

SY: Yes. Well, there was another building. That was also small, but we made that into a bedroom.

TI: So describe where people slept. So you had your parents and you had eight kids. So how did you do that?

SY: Let's see, now. I was sleeping with my sister, and my father and... my younger brother was sleeping with my father. That's one bedroom, there's two beds. And the other bedroom was one bed where my mother and the youngest brother slept.

TI: Okay, so that's two, four, six of you. And then where did the others sleep?

SY: The others slept in the other building.

TI: Okay, so after like four boys...

SY: So they have two beds in there.

TI: So you mentioned Gilroy, and what I know about Gilroy is they have these hot springs in Gilroy.

SY: Yes.

TI: Do you remember the hot springs?

SY: Yeah, I heard about it.

TI: Did you ever go the hot springs?

SY: No, no.

TI: To the Yamato Hot Springs. So did you hear about it later or did you hear about it when you were living in Gilroy?

SY: When we were living there we heard about, "There's a hot spring over there," but we never went there.

TI: And just so I can know about where you were, how far away were the hot springs?

SY: Oh, it was about three or four miles away, just about.

TI: Okay, so not too far away.

SY: Not, it wasn't too far away, I guess. Yeah, I think it was about, I'll say near, maybe 5 miles, yeah. But that's still close.

TI: Were you ever aware of Japanese coming to Gilroy to go to the hot springs?

SY: No, no.

TI: So you heard about it, but you didn't really know much about it.

SY: Yes, yes. We were still, you know, small yet, so we didn't know what "hot springs" was.

TI: Why these crazy people would want to go see the mountains, up in the water.

SY: We didn't know what hot springs was in the first place, you know.

<End Segment 4> - Copyright © 2009 Densho. All Rights Reserved.